The present invention relates generally to card holders or racks and, more particularly, to a new and improved card display device for uniquely holding or supporting a plurality of packs or batches of placards, such as conventional business cards and the like, whereby removal of individual cards therefrom is unimpeded and facilitated, and for attractively exhibiting the cards whereby the entire face, and thus the inscription thereon, is substantially exposed for clear viewing by persons casually observing the card display device.
Essentially, business cards serve to identify persons and/or business enterprises, and the occupation, profession, or trade of such person or the particular business activity of the business enterprise. Consequently, business cards are capable of being used as an advertisement instrumentality since they effectively bring to the immediate attention of anyone reading a particular card of the availability for hire or employment of the identified individual or business enterprise to perform certain services for hire, such as legal, medical, and real estate sales, as set forth on the card. Obviously, the potential volume of business or employment and, thus, the monetary return that can be generated by a business card functioning simply as an advertisement instrumentality is directly related to the number of persons who are made aware of the card and actually read the same. The more persons viewing a particular business card, the greater will be the potential for increasing the business activities of the business card owner.
Accordingly, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a novel and attractive card display device for use in an area accessible to and observable by the public, such as restaurants, barber shops, waiting rooms or other places where people congregate, which is capable of supporting a multitude of different business cards in upright positions so as to allow the inscriptions thereon to be readily visible to casual observers of the card display device.
The following U.S. Pat. Nos. disclose display devices for holding and exhibiting cards, photographs or other similar items:
______________________________________ 774,495 Richard 814,438 Franke 2,437,415 Berry 3,691,664 Stoian 4,041,631 Stevens 4,344,241 Tourre 4,432,460 Bell ______________________________________
While all of the display devices disclosed in the above-listed prior art patents relate generally to the subject matter of the present invention, some involve complex designs and are thus, costly to manufacture while others are incapable of holding a plurality of placards in individual pocket means in such a manner that a single placard may be easily removed from the pocket means without disturbing the other placards of the batch and the indicia on the outwardly facing placard of the batch of placards held in each pocket means is readily visible at all times. Moreover, many of the card display devices disclosed in the above-listed prior art patents are constructed of a multitude of parts which must be assembled and secured to each other to further increase manufacturing costs.